For a princely crown
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | For a princely crown |
| Original title | A woman commands |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1931 |
| length | 84 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Paul Ludwig Stein |
| script | Horace Jackson |
| production | Charles R. Rogers |
| music |
Arthur Lange Nacio Herb Brown |
| camera | Hal Mohr |
| cut |
Daniel Mandell George Hively |
| occupation | |
| |
Um eine Fürstenkrone is an American historical melodrama from 1931 with Pola Negri , who hereby presented her first sound film, in the lead role.
action
The young Serbian captain Alex Pastitsch is madly in love with the celebrated Soubrette Maria Draga and has therefore already thrown himself into expenses to fulfill the wishes of the spoiled diva. Heavily in debt, he even threatens to ruin his career with his behavior. Pastitsch's superior, Obert Stradimirovich, pleads with Madame to keep away from the rooster in love so as not to plunge him completely into misfortune. Maria Draga agrees, claims to her lover that another man has entered her life and sells some of the jewels that Alex had once given her. With this she secretly settles his debts. Then the artist begins to reflect on her own talents and returns to the stage as a cabaret singer. Once again she celebrates great success and appears in Vienna, Berlin and Budapest.
During a performance in Serbia, the local king visits her performance and is immediately fascinated by Maria Draga. She is asked to visit the royal palace, and the artist is accompanied there by Lieutenant Ivan Petrovitch from the royal guard. There is a dissolute feast, but Maria Draga steadfastly refuses to give herself to the king. Disappointed, the king gives the order to accompany the singer home, when Maria Draga meets her Alex Pastitsch of all people. He, in turn, thinks she has just got out of the king's bed and insults her out of disappointment. Meanwhile, the king does not give up, and when Maria Draga wants to flee the country in a hurry, he stops the train and brings Maria Draga back to him. The monarch is urgently warned against such an affair by his surrounding ministers and advisers, but the excited king doesn't care about anything. He asks for Maria Draga's hand. In view of Pastitsch's humiliation, Maria Draga finally agrees to the marriage proposal and becomes the country's next queen.
At a military parade in honor of the new queen, Captain Pastitsch refused to give the military honor and was promptly thrown into prison. Maria Draga begs her husband to be merciful and to have him returned to the royal guard. She only succeeded in doing this after Pastitsch was imprisoned for a year. Soon the people are grumbling about the origin of the new monarch, just as the country's prime minister once predicted. The day Queen Draga's son Milan was baptized in the cathedral, the church was bombed. It is not only grumbling among the people, but also among the military who are attempting a coup. Pastitsch takes the lead among the mutinous officers and storms the royal palace with his men. A heated argument ensues on both sides, in which one of the overzealous mutinous officers shoots the monarch.
With Peter Georgevitch a new king comes to the Serbian throne, and Obert Stradimirovitsch gives Alex Pastitsch the order to convince Queen Maria Draga to sign the abdication papers. Pastitsch now learns why his debt was suddenly discharged and that it was Maria Draga who campaigned for his release from dungeon. The queen-widow steadfastly refuses to sign the document of abdication, which would have turned the true heir to the throne, her son Milan, into a bastard. The Colonel then orders Maria to be brought before a firing squad. Alex Pastitsch doesn't know anything about it. At the last moment, Colonel Stradimirovich changed his mind and allowed Maria Draga to go into exile with her son Milan and the servant Mascha. Alex Pastitsch joins them and they all leave Serbia.
Production notes
A princely crown was shot in 1931 and presented for the first time at the end of the year. The mass start in both England and the USA took place at the beginning of the following year. The strip was seen in Germany from April 1935. At this point Pola Negri had just finished her first German film after 13 years of absence, Willi Forsts Mazurka . In Austria, the film began under the title Maria Draga on May 10, 1933.
To order a Fürstenkrone numerous technical special forces were involved in Hollywood. Hal Mohr photographed this production as head cameraman, his respected colleague Arthur C. Miller provided additional photos . William V. Skall and Milton Krasner were hired as simple cameramen, Robert Surtees was one of two camera assistants. Carroll Clark designed the film structures.
For a princely crown made a loss of 265,000 US dollars.
Historical background
Like the Austrian silent film Queen Draga with Magda Sonja in the title role, Um eine Fürstenkrone was also vaguely oriented towards the tragic story of Draga Mašin , who married the Serbian King Alexander I in 1900 and thus rose to become Queen of Serbia. She was so hated by the people that after only three years there was an overthrow in which both the king and queen were murdered.
criticism
Paimann's film lists summed up: "Except for the over-sentimental reconciliation scene, tasteful direction, excellent performance: the Negri has grown since the silent film era."
Halliwell's Film Guide called the film a "romantic melodrama" from the silent film school, "pretty much inevitable".
Individual evidence
- ^ Richard Jewel: RKO Film Grosses: 1931–1951. In: Historical Journal of Film Radio and Television. Vol. 14, No. 1, 1994, p. 58.
- ^ Maria Draga in Paimann's film lists
- ^ Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide. 7th edition. New York 1989, p. 1126.
Web links
- A prince's crown in the Internet Movie Database (English)